You need a press kit.

In the “old days”, that meant spending a LOT of money to have fancy-schmancy folders and papers printed that you would mail to newspaper and magazine editors. Because it is so costly to create those glossy kits, you and I would be doing without. Luckily, those days are long gone, and the Internet is here to save us. (Yes, you can still get hard copy press kits, and some may opt to do so, but it’s no longer the necessity that it once was).

So what is an online press kit, anyway? Sometimes called a media kit, it is really just an expanded “About Me” section that includes things like images and graphics (like headshots of yourself or images of your ebook cover), and lots of in-depth information about yourself that journalists could use when either writing about you, or quoting you. The more information you give reporters and bloggers in a simple, easy-to-get format, the better. The key is that you want to make it EASY for a reporter to choose you when they are looking for comments and quotes from an expert in whatever topic they are writing about today. Reporters have tight deadlines. They want answers and they want them fast.

If you accomplished all that we discussed in the last few posts, then it’s very likely that a journalist would find your site when he searched for “his current topic expert” or “whatever he is writing about guru”. Once he gets to your site, he’s going to want to:

1. Know more about you.
2. Find quick info that summarizes your expertise
3. Contact information so he can get in touch with you

An online press kit, then, would incorporate all of those elements and more. Journalists are trained to look for press kits. They’ve been relying on company media kits for decades. Just by having your own online press kit, you let them know that you respect them, and you are willing and ready to work with them. You let them know that you are available as a source. That gives you an edge over all the other “gurus” who don’t have an online press kit.

Once you have your online press kit created, you’ll want to be proactive. Let people know about it. Contact editors of relevant newspapers and magazines, or your local news editors, and let them know that you are available in the future as an expert source on the topics of “blah, blah and blah” (your niche expertise). Don’t hound them. Just let them know, give them all of your contact information, and be sure to include the URL to your spiffy, new online press kit. If any are interested, they’ll keep your information at hand in case they need it in the future.

You can also register as an expert source at either ProfNet (a service of PRWeb) or ExpertClick. These services connect journalists with expert sources (such as yourself), so they are great places to network, but the services are somewhat expensive. I would recommend doing everything you can in the first few months to build up your name recognition and have everything in place to position yourself as an authority before registering for this type of pricey service.

I can hear you asking already…how do I set up an online press kit? You can simply add a section to your current web site that gives all the pertinent information on its pages. Keep it simple and clean, with navigation that makes it impossible for a hurried journalist to get lost. Include quotes, testimonials, syndicated articles, suggested questions, podcasts and videos, images and graphics, and lots of bio information. If you want professional help, there are services that you can hire to create online press kits for you. From what I’ve seen, they seem to average around $500, so if that’s in your budget, it may be easiest to let someone else create it for you. Keep in mind, however, that you’ll still need to give them the actual content. You’ll need to spend a fair amount of time telling them about yourself, your achievements, your products, or whatever else would need to be included. After all, they don’t know those things about you – you do.

I looked around, hoping to be able to find a link to some free press kit templates, but didn’t find what I was looking for, so I decided to just go ahead and create some from scratch. I’ve created a new product called Online Press Kit Templates (no longer available as a paid product – see here to get it for free.). It’s not free, so let me tell you that right up front. But I priced it at a “reasonable” amount, so that it would be the right choice for anyone who wants help, but doesn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars. Many of you are old hands at setting up web sites, so you’ll be able to set your own up without any help at all. But if you would rather follow a template, without the actual service of someone creating it for you, then you are the right person to consider purchasing the templates I created. Keep in mind though, that you can absolutely do this yourself for free. I don’t want to mislead anyone into thinking that my product is the only solution, because that would certainly not be true. My templates simply make it a lot easier to get an online press kit up and running with minimal effort.

So that’s it. By the time you’ve covered all the steps in this Authority series, you should be well on your way to being called “the world’s foremost authority on ….”. Good luck!

P.S. If you are planning on hiring me as your ebusiness coach, don’t order my templates, because all my coaching clients get the package for free.

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